


I’ll Be Here

by orphan_account



Category: Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live RPF
Genre: Black Lives Matter, Colin Needs to Sleep, Concerned Michael Che, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:02:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25043581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Colin can’t sleep, Michael is concerned.
Relationships: Michael Che & Colin Jost, Michael Che/Colin Jost
Comments: 3
Kudos: 33





	I’ll Be Here

Michael was concerned. Colin hadn’t slept in days, and while little sleep was expected, and to some extent necessary, Colin usually slept at least every two days, even if it was just a few hours in between bouts of stress.

Michael popped his head into Colin’s office, intending to tell him to “Get some fucking sleep, dude, you look terrible” when he saw Colin doing just that, passed out on his desk, head in a pile of papers and hand gripping a pen. He walked inside, carefully covering him with a blanket, flicking off the lights, and heading out with a homemade Do Not Disturb sign to put on the door when Colin jolted.

“Che?” He rubbed his eyes and started shuffling the papers. “I had an Update script for you to look at, one minute.” The stress on Colin’s face tugged even at Michael’s tough heart, and he walked forward.

“Chill out,” he said, grabbing all the papers from Colin’s desk. “You haven’t slept, like, at all. I got this.”

Colin shook his head, reaching for the papers in Michael’s hand. “Give me that, I told Bowen I’d look over his sketch.”

“I’ll do it. I mean it Jost, sleep.”

“No.” Colin’s face was desperate. “Please, I need to work.”

Michael narrowed his eyes at his co-anchor. “Fine. But you’re working in my office.”

“Deal. Hey, what time is it?” Colin stood up and almost fell over.

“3 am. I lied, we’re staying in here, sit down and I’ll go get my shit.” Colin collapsed back in his chair and nodded.

Michael walked quickly down the hallway and into his office where he grabbed his own laptop and legal pad, scribbled a sticky note telling people where he would be to put on the door, and headed back to Colin’s office. The lights were still off, and Colin’s face was lit up by the screen of his laptop as he typed. Michael sat down on the couch and started to work. 

They sat in silence until Colin stopped someone walking by to beg them to get him a coffee.

“No. Chloe ignore him.” The panicked newbie looked trapped between them but ran off as soon as Colin nodded.

“Colin, if you need caffeine, sleep.”

“No.”

“Why not!” Michael tossed his laptop onto the cushion next to him. “Colin, you are clearly exhausted! You can barely sit up, you yawn every five minutes, you just begged for coffee. Just sleep, I’ll wake you up in a few hours.”

“NO!” Colin looked shocked to hear himself yell. “No,” he repeated in a quieter voice.

“Why not?”

“I—the nightmares. They’re getting bad, Michael.” Colin’s big eyes looked up at him. “Like, really bad.”

Michael frowned. “They’re nightmares, Jost, they aren’t usually pleasant.”

“No, you don’t get it. They are going way beyond the show. Y-you...” he trailed off, not wanting to finish.

“I what? Colin, I can’t help if you don’t tell me.”

“You keep dying.” Colin squeezed his eyes shut. “They keep shooting you, right in front of me, and I can’t stop it.” A tear dripped out of his eye as he looked up to Michael. “I try, I swear, but they won’t listen to me.”

“Who?”

“The police.” Colin took a deep breath. “The police keep killing you, and I don’t know how to make it stop.”

“Colin it’s okay, I-“

“NO! IT IS NOT OKAY! MICHAEL, PEOPLE ARE GETTING SHOT IN THE STREETS! PEOPLE KEEP DYING AND I CAN’T STOP IT! I CAN’T LOSE YOU!” Colin’s chest heaved, desperate for air. “I-I can’t,” he whispered, a heavy contrast to the booming voice before. “I can’t.”

“Colin, look at me, I’m right here.” He waited until Colin looked before continuing. “I’m not going to sit here and say that things don’t suck, or that being black is easy, ‘cause they do, and it isn’t, but I’m fine. Okay? I’m right in front of you, and I’m not leaving. Not until you get some sleep. I’ll be right here.”

Colin shook his head. “No no no, I’m supposed to be taking care of you, not the other way around.”

“Taking care of you is taking care of me. Babe, you’re stressing me out. You need to sleep, okay. I’ll be right here.”

Colin bit his lip. “Can I cuddle?”

Michael smiled slightly. “Of course.” Colin climbed out of his chair and practically fell into Michael, hugging him like a koala bear.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. Now sleep.” Michael closed his eyes. “I’ll be right here.”

**Author's Note:**

> I challenge everyone that reads this to write their own Chost fic! Doesn’t have to be top-quality, just some little thing, or some long thing if you want. It’s fun and pretty easy! If you need ideas look up OTP prompts! You got this!


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